24 June 2023

MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS

Q1. Do you think that actions to boost confidence can help change the existing situation between the two countries? Consider the issues that have lately hurt the India-Pakistan relationship.

Paper & Topic: GS II – International Relations

Model Answer:

• Although India and Pakistan share linguistic, cultural, and geographical similarities, their relationship has been complicated by a number of political and historical events. India has consistently argued that disputes should be settled bilaterally and amicably between it and Pakistan. Additionally, India has made numerous efforts to establish friendly neighbourly ties with Pakistan. However, acts of cross-border terrorism and violence have been committed in response to these arguments.

Problems with relations between Pakistan and India:

• Terrorism across borders: In the bilateral relationship, incidents like the current Poonch incident, the Pulwama attack from 2019, and the Uri attack from 2016 continue to be of great concern. India has frequently emphasised that Pakistan must take action that is credible, irreversible, and verifiable in order to end cross-border terrorism against India.
• Kashmir issue: The international community broadly supported India’s decision to implement constitutional amendments in Kashmir; however, other nations, most notably China and Pakistan, have reacted negatively and pushed to begin a new dialogue about Kashmir at the UN Security Council. As a result, Pakistan severed its ties with India.
• The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which traverses through regions of Jammu and Kashmir, an Indian state that Pakistan has unlawfully occupied, has been opposed by India since it is seen to violate India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
• India has rejected Pakistan’s attempt to use such unilateral actions to portray a troubling picture of bilateral relations to the outside world. Pakistan’s unilateral actions: Pakistan announced in 2019 that it will downgrade diplomatic ties with India, suspend bilateral commerce, and review its bilateral agreements with that country. Pakistan then stopped operating all buses and trains.
• Problems have arisen due to a protracted dispute over two hydroelectric power projects, Kishanganga on the Jhelum and Ratle on the Chenab, and India has asked Pakistan to alter the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty after Pakistan rejected intergovernmental negotiations on the matter.

Actions required to increase confidence:

• People-to-people exchanges should be encouraged through a variety of strategies, such as facilitating travel between the two countries, providing security for visitors, and setting up student and faculty exchanges, among others. Propaganda used by both sides’ media outlets to advance their positions on divisive issues breeds misinformation, prejudice, and hostility among the citizens of both nations.
• Renewing trade relations: Pakistan stopped conducting bilateral trade with India in 2019, despite India having given Pakistan the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status; this suggests that both parties could gain from reviving trade relations.
• Maintaining constructive back-channel diplomacy must be a key priority for Delhi until Pakistan gets its house in hand. Given the ambiguity and instability in its political arena, Pakistan has to reestablish its foreign policy consensus with reference to India.
• Connecting other pilgrimage sites along the Pakistan-India border can help boost confidence even more. More policies like the Kartarpur Corridor: The Kartarpur Sahib Corridor Agreement enables daily, year-round travel by Indian pilgrims and holders of Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) cards from India to the revered Gurudwara in Pakistan without a visa.
• The focus should be on making effective use of the confidence-building measures (CBM) already in place. India and Pakistan have previously negotiated bilateral pacts and agreements with the aim of reducing the danger of violence. Both are members of SAARC and numerous other international organisations.
• The ideology of Pakistan is at odds with that of India and it dominates domestic opinion in Pakistan, making meaningful interaction with that country challenging. In order to move forward, Track II conversations must be continued over the long term until agreement is obtained on specific problems.

Q2. Describe the reasons why communalism still exists in India and what efforts, in your opinion, should be made to stop it.

Paper & Topic: GS I – Communalism related issues

Model Answer:

• However, communalism is not about religion; it is about politics. Despite their significant involvement in religion, communists do not necessarily have a connection to religion in general. The idea that religious sects exist inside Indian society, each with interests that are not merely dissimilar but even antagonistic to one another, forms the basis of communalism.

Some of the causes of the persistence of communalism in India include the following:

• Factors of history: By dividing Hindus and Muslims, the British used their policy of divide and rule to undermine nationalist ambitions. As a result, there were conflicts between the two communities, and it is believed that this is when the Hindu-Muslim divide began to take shape. This policy’s ultimate outcome was the partition of India.
• Socioeconomic Inequity: People are frustrated by widespread poverty and unemployment, and religious fanatics are able to easily entrap the unemployed youth of both populations and use them as a tool to cause disturbances in their neighbourhoods. These tensions and internal conflicts that exist between the majority and minority communities as a result of the socioeconomic necessities of existence also foster racial animosity.
• Fundamentalism in religion: Fundamentalism and communalism share some ideological traits in that they both oppose the notion that politics and the state should be kept separate from religion and they both reject the notion that all religions are equally true, which runs counter to the notion of religious tolerance and harmony.
• Political communalization is contributing to the rise of communalism in India because elections are now more expensive and competitive, political parties are willing to use any method, legal or illegal, to win an election, and they even incite racial tensions for political gain.
• Role of the Media: The media continues to play a significant role in promoting the ideologies, behaviours, and responses of many populations. For example, the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots serve as an excellent example of how social media may be actively used during times of racial unrest.
• Contributing to the escalation of the communalism issue are extraneous influences, such as non-state actors who want to sow discord and win over the minority group by appealing to their sympathies.

Measures to tackle the problem of communalism:

• Value-based education: The emphasis should be on creating a scientific mindset in society and establishing values like humanity, compassion, secularism, peace, and non-violence through education.
• Reforming the criminal justice system: For the quick administration of justice, steps should be taken to reform police practises and processes as well as to establish specialised investigative and prosecution institutions. The criminal justice system, particularly that which resulted from intercommunal violence, has frequently come under fire.
• The media should focus on providing its audience with a well-rounded viewpoint in order to eliminate ideological prejudice. News outlets have a significant influence on how people think and feel, so when they have a bias towards a particular group or religion, viewers of such news outlets may also have that bias.
• There should be steps taken to stop geographic isolation based on religion and to promote interreligious marriages, among other things. This involves hosting festivals, fests, and social activities to foster understanding of diverse cultures.
• Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) can work with the government to improve links between neighbours and promote ideals of communal peace, which will help to foster a feeling of community.
• Transmission of the past: Efforts should be made to remind the people of those glorious historical occasions when Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs cooperated to safeguard the national interest, as well as to make them aware of how India’s diversity has contributed to the nation’s unity.
• Implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC): Article 44 of the Constitution provides the UCC’s guiding principles. It is evident that, in the absence of the UCC, each group has distinct and conflicting interests. The UCC’s implementation can help to lessen religious inequities.
• Given this difficulty, the drafters of our Constitution chose the secular state paradigm. Additionally, it is important to combat community propaganda and discrimination in daily life, as well as political mobilisation based on religion. Comunalism has been and continues to be one of the main obstacles to democracy in our nation.